1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in weight lifting exercising apparatus, and more particular, to weight lifting apparatus with a frame and a plurality of pulleys associated therewith so that a cable attached to one or more weights may be selectively trained about the pulleys in a number of desired orientations to thereby enable performance of a large number of exercises.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, with increased emphasis on body health, there has been an introduction of a large number of weight lifting exercising apparatus. In many cases, these weight lifting exercising apparatus have become quite sophisticated. However, generally in most constructions, the weight lifting exercising apparatus is comprised of an upstanding frame, one or more weights which may be selectively introduced and a cable connected to the weights and turned around one or more pulleys. The user of the apparatus engages the cable or some member connected to the cable e.g. a handle and pulls on the cable to attempt to lift the selectively introduced weights.
While many of these apparatus have been effective in enabling one to perform body exercises by lifting weights in certain different body positions, the exercising apparatus are not highly effective in permitting a cable to be trained in a number of differing configurations to thereby enable different exercises to be performed. Moreover, each of the commercially available exercising apparatus are constructed so that they are relatively expensive and thus, not easily affordable for home use. The same holds true in that the commercially available exercising apparatus which are available to commercial institutions are also constructed in a manner where they are not sized and conveniently operated in home use.
U.S. Pat. No. RE 28,066 to Marcyan discloses a single station body exercising apparatus which is comprised of a plurality of pulleys and a means for introducing a desired amount of weight. Moreover, a cable is trained around the pulleys and a handle mechanism for the user to engage. U.S. Pat. No. 3,438,627 to La Lanne also discloses a weight lifting apparatus in which a cable is trained around a plurality of pulleys and connected to one or more weights. The other end of the cable is provided with a handle for the user to engage and to apply force in order to lift the weights. U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,263 to Yatso and U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,555 to Mahnke disclose similar forms of body exercising apparatus. The same holds true with the body exercising apparatus taught in British Pat. No. 1,438,466 and French Pat. No. 1,444,865. While some of these apparatus enable different starting positions, they are not effectively designed so that a cable may be trained in a variety of configurations to enable a large number of body exercises to be performed.
This is not a significant problem in commercial institutions, such as gymnasiums and the like, where a number of people will simultaneously use different exercising apparatus to perform various different weight lifting exercises. However, for home use, it is impractical to have a plurality of different exercising apparatus.
Another one of the problems with the commercially available exercising apparatus is the fact that most of the apparatus are constructed from structural metals, such as steel and the like. As a result, these apparatus are usually of a welded construction and not readily easily transportable. They are quite heavy and bulky and therefore costly to ship. Moreover, by virtue of construction they are not readily adaptable for easy assembly or disassembly.